What are Essential Oils?

Now that essential oils are available, many people ask me what are they, and why would somebody need to use them. Essential oils are oils that have been extracted from various species of flowers, fruits, herbs, and plants. Many people consider essential oil from plants, herbs and flowers as a very precious substance, because the oil is an easy to use way to get the essence of a particular plant without having to process the plant your self. Essential oils are used in infinite ways by many different cultures around the world. Depending on the type of oil, there are many medicinal, therapeutic, and homeopathic uses for oils.

Lines of essential oils are ideal for making truly natural soaps and candles. When using the essential oils in your candles and soaps, be sure you communicate to your customers that essential oils were used so customers realize why they may be paying a premium for your product. Other uses for essential oils include aromatherapy diffusers, potpourris, a few drops added straight into bath water or Jacuzzi water, massage oils (mix roughly 10-20 drops of oil to 1 ounce of pure vegetable oil), and creating your own perfume (15-25 drops of an essential oil to 1 ounce of water in a mist spray bottle). The list is endless.

Why are they so expensive?
Essential oils are pure and natural – they are not synthetically made in a laboratory. Depending on the plant and extraction process, it takes a lot of plant matter to make a small amount of oil. For example, it takes roughly 200 pounds of lavender flowers to produce 1 pound of lavender oil. That is 200 pounds of lavender flowers that could be used for all sorts of other uses such as teas, pillows, and soap additives besides oil extraction. When you buy one pound of essential oil, you are actually purchasing 200 pounds of lavender – but without having to extract the oil yourself.